Combat the Boring Car Ride with these Road Trip Activities

What do you do when the Game Boy batteries die, you forgot all the DVD’s, or you didn’t think about how awesome it would have been to hook up your old N64 in your car before you left on your road trip? Maybe you just want to cut down on family screen time, or you’re the driver and constantly feel left out of the fun.

Try out some of these Road Trip approved games to make the time go by and have a blast with your friends and/or family!

Mad Libs – these are great, and amazing to do as a group! There are also apps you can download, but they never seem as fun as the original books.

Book/Audio Book – Find a book to read and either read or listen to it in the car. Check your local libra y to see if you can download audio books directly to your phone.

Guess my Animal – Guessing game where one person thinks of an animal and the rest of the group must ask yes or no questions to figure out what it is. To make it more difficult, limit the number of questions the guessers are able to ask!

Eye Spy– Bring an eye spy book along! These can be entertaining for hours…as long as you don’t get car sick.

The Song Game – Get those vocal chords warmed up! This game is a blast to play as a group. Choose a word – typically something common, such as “Love”, and then each team, or person, has to sing a song that has your chosen word in it. For example, if the word was “Love” you could sing a song such as “Can you feel the love tonight…” or “What is Love? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more!” Extra points to those who sing it in the same voice as the original artist!

The Movie Game – I myself am not a movie buff in the slightest bit, but this game can still be fun! First all agree on a movie, then the person going first would have to say an actor/actress who stars in that movie. Then the next person would have to say a movie that that actor/actress starred in, and so on and so forth. The first person to not come up with a movie or actor/actress is out.

Fiction Story – This one is great to do with kids! You start by saying “Once upon a time…” Then the next person must create the next line or scene of the story. Such as “there was a giant dragon who lived alone on an island…”. Then, the next person would continue with something from their own imagination to continue the story. You can guide these stories by creating a genre that the story must be told in, or a theme. Maybe it is a comedy, or a drama. Maybe it must take place in outer space or in the 1800's – Or maybe you don’t put any parameters on it and just go with whatever people make up!

Radio Roulette – While cruising across the country, scan the radio till you find music. Listen to the song for 10 seconds or until someone can name the song. Bonus points if they know the artist too!

Mafia – (If you have enough people) Watch this video here to learn how to play.

The Word Game – This is better with adults or children who are good at spelling. The first player chooses a letter to start – such as “S”. The next player must say another letter after “S” that would continue spelling a word such as “S-c”. The next player must do the same thing “S-c-h”. You may instantly think “They are spelling the word “school”, but someone else may think it’s the word “scholar”. The overall goal is not to be the one who finishes spelling the word. Maybe someone doesn’t know what word is being spelled so they say a letter that doesn’t exactly work such as “S-c-h-o-a”. Someone else can say “Challenge” (Typically the person after them who must continue spelling the word) and if they don’t have a word (Or say a word that isn’t real!) they are out. You can also get out if you are the last person to say the letter that completes the word – i.e. if you said the “L” in “School”. However, that player could have also continues this word to spell “Schooling” if they had thought of it. The round is done when there is only one person left who did not get out. Everyone who lost the round is given one point – where in this game, points are bad. At the end, whoever has the least amount of points, wins! Or you can play it like the game “Horse” where each player who loses the round gets a letter, then they officially lose once they get enough letters to spell the word “Horse".

So on your next road trip, instead of being bored in the car or glued to your screens, give some of these activities a try!